Coconut Rum
by BigMammaLlama5
Summary: Sometimes a little TOO much rum can be a good thing... Lara/Samantha from the 2013 Reboot. Prequel is up, titled Dirt and Blood. July 29, 2013-minor grammar and spelling updates.


**EDIT: Minor grammar fixes and stuff, July 7, 2013. I think I got them all… Let me know please if I've missed one! Thanks guys!**

**Super long author's note! You can skip it if you want to!**

Holy cow, it's been a while hasn't it? Four years? I guess that's what happens sometimes… ANYWAYS. I seem to have gotten over my massive writers block/whole four years of college/finding and holding an actual job thing… Unfortunately, I'm 100% sure any and ALL of my other stories are dead. So… Well, I honestly don't think anybody cared about them anyways; they kinda sucked…

But it's good to be back, I do have some more to type up, some more to actually write, and EVENTUALLY (once I have enough) I'll start posting my original story/novel that was born during this past year's NaNoWriMo. So I sincerely hope that my grammar and writing has improved not just for my sake, but everyone else's.

But enough of that, I know you aren't here to read my mindless babbling.

I was a deprived child and the Tomb Raider 2013 Reboot was the first TR game that I actually played… (Though since playing through it twice I've had to go track down the 10th Anniversary game.) Needless to say, I was completely sucked into it. Come on, can anyone here truly deny that it's a work of art?! And being the crazed fangirl I am, I jumped on the Lara/Samantha ship and never looked back. Not even once. I HAVE NO REGRETS.

So here's my story to throw myself back into the fray. I do accept CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, and you can go to my profile to troll through my spiel if you really want to. Just don't hurt mah feelingssss and I'll pretty much be everyone's BFF and talk your ear off. So… Well… Here it is… *hides under desk*

**Takes place after 2013 Tomb Raider Reboot, characters WILL be slightly OOC.**

**Rated M for reference to violence, violence, drinking, sex, and some reference to disturbing imagery. THIS IS YOUR WARNING. Be responsible and don't read this if you aren't into smutastic lesbian loving. And be respectful about it. Geeze I sound like my mom… D:**

**I OWN NOTHING I'M A POOR ART SCHOOL GRADUATE. So don't sue me Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix… Though I would LOVE to have one of the Promo Tees, size medium. I will sell you my soul! D:**

Coconut Rum

Lara groaned lowly and sighed when the satisfying feeling of popping and cracking her stiff back released the tension built up from hunching over her notes for hours. Her hotel desk was covered in layers of plastic-protected parchment, huge leather-bound tombs, and a ridiculous stack of notes. A decent sized map of Central America crisscrossed with red string and covered in neat sharpie notes was taped to the wall in front of her in aged masking tape. A cup of overturned writing instruments spilled off the desk and onto the floor where her left elbow had knocked it and a legal pad half full of notes and sketches from her findings lay flipped open in front of her.

_Ah, the Incas… So fascinating, even in their most primal ways…_ She mused to herself, lacing her long fingers at the nape of her neck, lightly threading through the lazy ponytail. Bright hazel eyes framed by shaggy layered bangs were lit by the golden late evening sun and glittered with curious intelligence as they skimmed over the red lattice on the wall. She twisted and glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table behind her and took note of the time.

"Well, 6:45. Time to eat, or I never will… I _suppose_ I should go down there…" Lara grumbled to herself.

Her reluctance wasn't just that she was leaving her work, _again_. But the fact that; even now, about three weeks after they touched down in Los Angeles from Tokyo which just _happened_ to be a few weeks after they had been swept up and away from that evil place… Reyes was still mad. Oh no, not just mad. Bitter. Resentful. Spiteful. All because of goddamn Conrad Roth. Stupid, wonderful, _caring_ Conrad Roth.

All because he had sacrificed himself so that Lara would live to see another day.

How Lara wished time and time again that her adoptive father hadn't seen the barbaric man with his hatchet. How she _deeply_ wished that the hatchet had been buried into her spine and not his. He had a daughter and a woman to love him for the rest of his days. She only had him. Well, she also had Samantha, but that was a different can of worms she hoped to never open any time soon. A messy and knotty can the size of a fifty-five gallon drum that she wanted to go nowhere near for fear of losing her too. She didn't want to be alone, and it was much easier to play it safe and take what she could get rather than risk losing it all.

She jumped when her phone pinged from somewhere underneath the layers of paper and plastic in front of her. It pinged three more times before she unearthed it from under a few tombs on the ancient art and architecture of Central America. The shiny new iPhone in a plain black clunky Otter Box displayed one text from Jonah and three from Sam.

"_Hey little bird, come down and eat. We haven't seen you since breakfast!"_ His read. One thing that struck Lara as hilarious was Jonah's stickler attitude for proper grammar. She had teased him about it once but he only smiled and ruefully explained how his mother had forced him through numerous etiquette classes in his youth. _"I was bound to keep a part of it somehow!"_

Lara smiled softly and sent a quick reply of _"On my way down!"_ before flipping back to the message menu and located Sam's. They were as followed:

"_Wassup hoe time ta eat"_

"_Laaaraaaaaaaaa"_

"_Fine be that way more for me"_

The last message was accompanied by an attractive picture of the sender stuffing half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into her mouth. That earned a short bark of laughter and a good-natured reply, _"Bitch you better save me some!"_

The young woman heaved herself up out of the semi-comfortable chair and adjusted her red soft flannel button up over a light gray spaghetti-strap tank. Snug mahogany brown cargo pants formed to her long and lean muscular legs and disappeared into sturdy leather boots that were now repaired. Her clothing from the disaster that was Yamatai had been stripped by the EMTs and promptly thrown into the incinerator. She had put up a nasty fight for her boots and they had been returned to her four days later, cleaned with new soles and laces and patches. She had made it a personal mission to find out who had done her this kindness but she never found the mystery cobbler.

As she grabbed her key card and small wallet and stuffed them into her back left pocket, her phone pinged again from her hand with another message from Sam.

"_Laraaaaa come onnnn"_ She could practically hear the whining.

"_Calm down, I'll be there soon…"_

Lara strode through her small room and peered out the peephole for a moment before throwing the deadbolt open and existing the confines of her temporary sanctuary. Her heavy boots were muffled on the goofily patterned hall carpet and she ate up the distance to the stairwell. Lara never wanted to go near an elevator again if she could help it. Too many sad memories of getting to Alex too late…

"Poor bastard…" She murmured and the familiar grip of unfair guilt twisted her heart in her chest.

Halfway down the four flights of stairs her phone pinged _again_ and she paused to tug the device from her right back pocket with a little difficulty before continuing on at a slightly slower pace. The bulky case really wasn't ideal for the tight pants she favored, but the precious extra protection would be worth it.

"_HURRY UPPPPP"_

"_Fuck it Sam, I'm coming!"_ She punched out in slight exasperation. She grimaced right as her best friend responded.

"_HeLLOOO thatswhatshesaid! Damn Lara I didn't know THAT was why you were so slow… ;)"_

"_Noooo that's not what I meant and you know it. Perv."_

"_Uh huh suuuure"_

Lara halted at the landing in between the second and first floors before lolling her head back and rolling her slightly _more_ than exasperated eyes to the ceiling.

"Lord, if you're there? _Please_ give me the strength to deal with this like our normal banter…" She pleaded to the off-white painted concrete.

A heavy sigh drooped the toned and compact shoulders of the young British Archaeologist, the woman accepting the fact yet again that sometimes you truly don't if not EVER always get what you want. Her heavy boots echoed down the remaining stairs accompanied by the soft hum of the popular eighties song that reflected her thoughts.

"Oh, you can't always get what you want…" Lara sang softly under her breath as she clanged into the first floor hallway, a wry grin pulling at the corners of her full pink lips.

She trudged on quietly; humming the chorus over and over since that was the only part she seemed to remember. She paused at the open double doors to the small conference hall that was open for dinner that evening and immediately spotted Jonah's bulk sitting at one of the smaller round tables. She was about to step into the room when she heard her name called accompanied by a few pairs of running feet.

"Ah _shit_…" She grumbled, then turned to face the approaching media lackeys with as much of a neutral expression she could muster.

"Miss Croft! I'm so glad we could catch you! Do you have a moment?" A slightly overweight and pasty man panted out. His gangly cameraman was barely breaking a sweat behind him, the small red recording light catching her eye.

Lara frowned slightly from the bright light on the camera and politely spoke, "Gentlemen, I'm afraid you have caught me yet again at an inopportune time. Perhaps I can arrange a meeting with you in a few days?"

"Why do you all keep dodging us? Surely you have just a moment, it's been nearly two months! Could you tell us what the island was like? For a young twenty-one year old, you must have had some gruelingly defining moments! Neither you nor your team have given us any kind of information!"

"I would rather not remember that horrible place, if you don't mind. We've stated that when the time is right, all will be told." She quipped.

"Miss Croft, you have to tell us sometime _soon_! What happened to everyone else? Did you find anything interesting? Could you tell us about the barbarians there? What did you do to defend yourself? Did you have to result to deadly force? What about-"

"If you would excuse me, I would like to have my dinner." Lara almost snapped, but her manners that had been drilled into her by her parents held her tongue in more civil waters. She turned away quickly and froze when the pasty pudgy man called out in a weaseled voice,

"What about Conrad Roth? We heard he didn't make it, what was his relationship to you? Something you don't want the public to know?"

Cold fury blazed through her veins and set her face into a dark scowl she would have never thought to wear before the most recent events. Lara rounded on the men and stalked towards them like an angry panther, barely controlled power rippling through her taught body. Her hands gripped at her hips where her weapons had rested and then clenched into tight fists, her back rigid with anger.

"How _dare_ you." She hissed through bared pearly white teeth. "_How fucking DARE you ask about him."_

The reporter's face went slack with shock, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to form words.

"You don't know what it's like. To be stranded. To be lost. To be _hunted_. To watch your friends be killed in front of you. _To be murdered._ You have no _right_ to ask about Roth. Or Alex. Or Grim. Or _ANY_ of them. Roth was a second father to me, I will _not_ have you slandering his name. You don't _want_ to know what we've been through; no one would even believe it anyways. We did what we had to do to survive. Nothing more. I've tried to be polite. So take your camera and leave. DO NOT approach me again." She spat, then turned on her heel and stormed away and into the sparsely milling crowd of the conference hall. The men didn't follow. She briefly registered the reporter whispering to his cameraman, _"Did you see her eyes? I thought she was going to attack me…"_

_I suppose that's a good thing he's not following, though now that rant is going to blow up in my face…_ She huffed to herself sarcastically and stopped just inside the open doors.

Lara cradled her face in her hands for just a moment, sucking in lung-fulls of air in an attempt to calm the roiling animal in her chest. Ever since Yamatai the littlest things set her off. The sharp slam of a door, someone whispering, the tinkling sound of someone setting their coffee mug down, darkness, someone mentioning those whom she had lost… They all triggered the animal instinct she had tapped into to survive and she would feel so vulnerable clutching at her hips where the climbing axe and Eagle pistol had been. She tried to hide it away, it was no use to be alarmed by every day sounds. But she knew that they all had noticed. Jonah watched her calmly, continuing to be the comforting rock he was. Reyes tried to ignore her, but she had spied some mix of pity and exasperation in her expressions more than once. But Sam, her best friend, tried so hard to be strong like Jonah but her eyes were warm amber beacons of worry and affection.

It all made her feel horrible.

_She_ should be the strong one. _She_ was the one who killed so many people without a second thought. _She_ shouldn't even have feelings anymore. _She_ should be a shell. A machine. Or an animal. The guilt kept her grounded to her humanity, but a niggling little voice that whispered disturbing thoughts in her ear threatened that small safety net.

_Just kill that man; he took the meal you wanted anyways…_

_Just smash her face into the table and cut her throat, her voice is too grating anyways…_

_Just take what you want from her, you saved her life twice anyways…_

The last one always snapped her out of the grisly thoughts and made her sick to her stomach. Slowly but surely, she was learning ways to block them out. Exercising, burying herself in her work, a little alone time in the shower, and breath control were her four main go-to vices to remain in control of her faculties. In an unwise move, alcohol was quickly becoming a fifth, specifically rum.

Lara took one last deep breath, feeling much better than she had thirty seconds earlier. The beast was calmed for the moment but she'd have to release some of the pent up energy and anger _some how_ later in the evening. She felt better every day with every small victory over it, but it still felt like she was stuck in the quagmire of self-loathing. She rolled her shoulders back and stepped into the crowd, ignoring the ping from her phone. Jonah was facing her and noticed the strained expression right away. Calmness and understanding radiated from his form and deep brown eyes and washed over her like a balm. Reyes spared her a glance to his left and returned to her meal without betraying any kind of acknowledgement. That was bad. They had been civil and polite towards each other for the past three weeks, something must have happened to make her revert back to the bitter ignoring. Sam sat across from Jonah with her back to Lara, her back straight and away from the chair. Her cropped leather jacket was thrown across the back of her chair and a plain white v-neck tee fit snugly to her slender form. Black skinny jeans were a second skin on her lean legs and her red flip flops were kicked off underneath her seat, feet crossed at the ankles and toes touching her shoes. Glossy black hair was pulled up into a short messy ponytail and Lara swallowed hard when the telltale warmth blossomed in her abdomen as she caught sight of the creamy smooth skin of Sam's junction between her neck and shoulder.

Suddenly overwhelmed by weariness and the urge to cuddle, Lara leaned down and slid her arms around Sam's shoulders from behind. Her hands tingled as they glided over the smooth warm skin just under the smaller woman's clavicle and clung to the soft cotton of her shirt. Lara sighed and pressed her chest into Sam's shoulder blades and buried her nose in that delicious haven where the pulse danced just under the skin. Her weight leaned onto the back of the chair and slightly pushed Samantha forward at the waist. For such an awkward position, Lara found herself quite comfortable. The warm body she was wrapped around didn't shrug her off and leaned back into her, lending the silent comforting strength she needed. Sam turned her head to the left and pressed her check to the crown of Lara's head, a hand coming up to squeeze a tanned forearm cross hatched with fresh fading scars.

"Did those reporters ambush you?" She murmured into the silky chocolate brown hair. Lara just nodded and sunk deeper into Sam's warmth.

"They cornered Joslyn too, so try not to do anything to set her off, okay?" Her response was another nod and then silence, so Sam turned back to her conversation with Jonah, her thumb lightly swiping back and forth on Lara's forearm.

Lara stayed there a moment longer and breathed in the warm spicy scent of her secret object of affection. At least she hoped it was secret, she knew the three of them were getting suspicious, but up until recently she just couldn't help herself sometimes. Like right now for instance. Feeling bold, she pressed a soft kiss to the warm flesh under her nose before heaving herself up and off of Samantha. She felt the sharp intake of breath rather than heard it, but it was enough evidence to make her feel that she hadn't made a _complete_ fool of herself. Not just yet anyways. Lara wove back into the still milling foot traffic and worked her way down the buffet table loaded with ample choices. The unplanned media visit had made her lose some of her appetite, so she chose a simple meal of baked macaroni and cheese, some kind of green vegetable, and an apple. Lara juggled the plate and apple to swipe a tall chilled glass of ice water and made her way back to the table.

Jonah and Samantha were engrossed in a deep discussion over which Quentin Tarantino film was the best, so she tucked into her dinner and cleaned her plate quickly while she listened to the friendly banter. She had just taken her fist bite into the crunchy red apple when Sam turned to her.

"What about you, Lara. What's your favorite Tarantino movie?"

"Pulp Fiction, hands down." She managed to get out around the fruit in her mouth.

"SEE! I _told_ you! Sure the first Kill Bill is a great action film, but it doesn't have any substance to compare to Jules Winnfield's final monologue on his biblical argument and how it connects to his personal ambivalence to his crime filled life!"

"But Kill Bill has an amazing point over the power that people hold over others and their lives, forcing them to play as a pseudo-god or goddess!"

At Jonah's rebuttal, Lara noticed Reyes twitch in dislike. She didn't want to be around for much longer anyways, wary that her continued presence might cause more harm than good right now. She took her last few small bites around the apple core and tossed it onto the plate as she scooted the chair out.

"Running off again, Lara?" Joslyn's cold voice cut through the ongoing movie rant that had migrated to comparing the iron fists of Tarantino's Blacksmith to the punching power of a Hulked out Bruce Banner.

"No, I just have some work to do." Lara answered carefully, swallowing down the apple that had turned to tasteless ash on her tongue.

"Maybe to go and talk to those fucking reporters again?" Reyes shot back in an icy tone, her dark eyes flat and foreboding.

"No, I've not said a word to them other than to leave me alone." Lara answered as calmly as she could.

"I find that damn hard to believe. You _were_ that bastard Whitman's protégée after all."

"_Excuse me?!"_

"I don't think I need to repeat myself, do I?"

"You are _accusing_ me of leading the entire expedition into mortal peril. For fame, money, and glamour."

"Sure sounds like it."

Lara pressed her lips together into a thin line and bit back a few choice words. She nodded once stiffly and abruptly stood up, her chair coming dangerously close to toppling over backwards.

"I'm sorry you think that way." She answered tightly and gathered up her dishes, intent on attacking the treadmill the earliest chance she got to curb her anger. As she strode past she muttered to herself,

"_I know Roth would be."_

The next thing she knew was that a chair had been overturned and she had barely enough time to turn around and receive a shoulder driving into her sternum. Her breath whooshed violently out of her lungs from the impact and Lara dropped her dishes with a crash as Joslyn body tackled her. The beast roared to life within her and clawed its way up into her chest, ripping up inhibitions and shredding her last threads of restraint. Reyes managed to deliver three sharp painful punches in a staccato right-left-right to her face, two to her left cheekbone and one to the right corner of her mouth. Lara's upper right canine tore into the soft pink flesh of her bottom lip on the second punch and boiling metallic blood spilled across her tongue and teeth. She roared and bucked her hips fiercely, dislodging the mechanic and grabbing the front of the gray zip-up hoodie in her fists. She took advantage of the balance upset and used her powerful legs and abdominal muscles to turn the tables and flip Reyes hard onto her back with a feral snarl.

White-hot rage consumed Lara and the dredged up horrors of Whitman and Mathias and his so-called "Brothers of the Sun" wove in front of her hazy vision, spurring her on. Her left hand and hips roughly pinned the African American woman underneath her leaving her right hand free. Lara didn't know how many punches she got in before the tree trunk arms of Jonah hauled her off of Joslyn, but there was a lot of blood and the body fought back weakly.

_She's still alive, killer her. The bitch attacked you first. Show them that you are the strongest…_ The nasty voice whispered into her ear, and she kicked out with a heavily booted foot, missing her prey completely.

She flew through the air a moment and landed hard on her side, bruising her left hip and shoulder. The incensed woman whirled to her feet in a cat-like grace, ready to attack again when a small woman jumped in front of her with arms outstretched to the side.

"_LARA!"_

Lara jumped and tensed her crouched body, searching for the person who had called her name. The form of Samantha in front of her cut through her unbridled animal rage, barely.

"Sam. Move." She snarled through pink teeth, bright red blood dribbled down her chin and onto the carpet.

"Lara, stop. It's over." The young Asian woman pleaded, amber eyes full of a strange mix terror and worry.

Lara didn't speak, her uncontrollable urges pushing her to rise to a half hunched position with her eyes trained on the pitiful form of Joslyn being scooped into Jonah's arms. She narrowed her eyes in hatred and watched them leave the now silent and still hall. She quickly contemplated going after her offender but Samantha stepped back into her field of vision but out of arms reach.

"Lara? Come back honey…" She spoke soothingly, trying to take as neutral a posture as possible. Lara focused in on Sam's face again, unsure of what she was asking. Her ragged breathing filled her cotton-stuffed ears, so she focused on the pink lips in front of her.

"Lara, it's okay. No one's going to hurt you here." She took a step forward. "You're not back there anymore. We're all safe. It's okay." Another step.

"We're back in LA, Lara. We've been safe for nearly a month." Step.

"What Reyes said wasn't fair and it was unfounded. Jonah and I know you had nothing to do with any of that. You can't control a supernatural force, much less the weather." Step. Lara began to straighten up.

"Lara you have to promise me you'll talk to me to prevent this from happening again." Step.

"I just want to help you, can't you see that?" Step.

"Can't you see how scared I am for you?"

She could. Samantha stood a foot and a half away from her and Lara could see it etched into her face and branded into her expression. The adrenaline rush pushed her into clarity and she felt her arms fall slack as she realized what she had just done. The beast cowered and hid away in shame of its actions and Lara wished she could do the same.

"I… I'm _so_ sorry Sam… That place… I'm fucked up…" She mumbled, ignoring the sting of her split lip.

"Sweetie, I know it changed you. But you're still you. You're still in there…" Sam cautiously brushed her fingertips on the inside of Lara's left wrist, and bit her lip in hurt when Lara jumped back as if she had been burned.

"No, no I'm not. I hurt Joslyn. I… I have to go. I'm sorry. Tell her I'm so _so_ sorry…" She choked out past the lump in her throat.

Lara turned quickly on her heel and double timed it out of the silent room, her head hung down hiding her tortured expression from Sam and the wide eyed hotel guests that gaped at her. The treadmill was out of the question now, she need to numb what she was feeling. A quick turn to the opposite direction of the stairs brought her to the hotel bar that was thankfully sparse of patrons. She approached the bar tender and caught his attention.

"Excuse me."

"Yes-oh good Christ what happened? Do you need me to call someone?" He asked in mild alarm, his blue eyes growing wide.

"No! No, I'm fine I just really need a drink. Do you think I could just take a bottle?"

"I'm not authorized to do that, but you really look like you could use it. Can I see your ID? You look a little young… Okay… What can I get you and what room should I charge it to?" Lara fished her wallet from her pocket and held it up until the bartender had seen it and was satisfied.

"Anything rum. I'm up in room 405."

"Sure thing. Hold on a second and I'll bring you a few choices." He turned quickly and strode into the back room, his dirty blonde dreads swinging from the loose tail they were gathered up in.

Lara leaned heavily on the counter and buried her face in her left hand, her right was starting to throb from the abuse she had inflicted upon it. She looked down and studied the trembling offended appendage and assessed the damage as best she could. Her knuckles and fingers were red and slightly swollen which was an early sign of possible bruising. A few light abrasions from where she had caught Reyes's teeth welled up tiny drops of blood but thankfully nothing felt broken. She moved each finger cautiously and deduced that she didn't need to go to a doctor. Lara was also blatantly ignoring a sleazy looking businessman to her right who was unashamedly appraising her like a cut of meat. Or she thought he was, she refused to even look that way in case he was. Lara saw out of the corner of her eye that the bartender was returning and straightened back up.

"Alright, I looked through my tally and I can only spare you this. There was some ratchet-ass vodka if you would rather have that…" He trailed off, plunking an unopened bottle of Captain Morgan's Pirate Bay Coconut Rum onto the counter in front of her.

"90-proof? That will be fine, thank you. If I get you in trouble with your supervisor just tell them Lara Croft in 405 threatened you. They'll believe it." She smiled sadly and picked the bottle up by the neck.

"Sure thing. I'm here until 1 am, so call down if you need anything else and I'll see what I can do. Don't poison yourself."

"I will, thank you. And I'll try not to but I can't guarantee it…"

Lara turned to go and took a few steps before she heard the Bartender address the sleazy businessman. _"Don't even think about it dude, she doesn't want that kind of comfort."_ Lara huffed through her nose and thought wryly,

_I do but not from him…_

After locating the nearest stairwell, Lara bounded up the concrete to the fourth floor and paused to catch her breath. She looked down and studied the clear rectangular bottle in her fist, the dark blue label reflecting and refracting through the glass from the Fluorescent lighting.

"I _could_ just run up and down the stairs until I can't walk anymore… But you will help me forget, even just for a bit…" She addressed the bottle in her hand.

Lara pursed her lips together and nodded to herself. She leaned down and set the liquor bottle onto the floor against the wall, then stripped off her flannel shirt and threw it down next to it. She stretched a moment and tightened her ponytail before heading back down the stairs. Her legs pumped methodically and her heavy boots clanged on the metal-edged concrete steps, finding a challenging rhythm and she was off. Lara brutally pushed her body up and down the four flights of stairs before the deep burning in her muscles forced her to stop half way up the eighth or ninth time. She panted and sucked in lung-fulls of metallic tasting air and carefully tongued the tender spot on her lip. Lara grimaced at the sharp twinge and began trudging up the remaining two flights with her hands braced on her hips. She shivered in discomfort when the cool air seeped into her damp tank top and bra, chilling her skin and causing gooseflesh to cover her bare arms.

When she reached the fourth floor Lara retrieved her shirt and shrugged it back on without buttoning it up and scooped up her poison for the evening. She shoved the heavy door open with her hip and dug into her back pocket to fish out her door key card. As she turned the corner to the hall her room was located on, the average figure of the sleazy businessman caught her eye. He just _happened_ to be leaning up against the wall next to her door.

_Lovely. Fucking lovely._

"May I help you, sir?"

"I didn't get a chance to talk to you downstairs, but-"

"If you're offering to help me drink this, I'll have to decline." She cut across him.

"No! No, no, no. You misunderstand. You _are_ the Lara Croft, the archaeologist that survived the wreck of the _H.M.S. Endurance_?"

"I am."

"Well, I know it isn't my place, but it sounds like you and your friends had a really rough time. My wife Barbara, she's a psychologist that specializes in helping those who have gone through event like that. Car wrecks, boat crashes, she even has a few Veteran soldiers from the US Marine Corps who went through the rough months of the middle east disaster. I just wanted to give you her card in case you were staying in California for a little while longer. We're up in San Francisco." He finished, pulling a pristine business card out of his jacket chest pocket.

"I… Thank you…" Lara stuttered out, completely thrown for a loop. She took the card.

"And from another survivor to another? I know that won't help after much longer." He revealed and gestured to the bottle in her other hand, then tapped his thigh. The sound of thick hollow plastic reached her ears and she blushed in embarrassment. The man only smiled easily, not at all fitting his image of sleazy businessman she had rudely imposed upon him, and raised a hand in farewell, "Take it easy Miss Croft, I hope you find your way."

Lara could only return the gesture and bid him goodbye after thanking him again and keyed into her room. Lara stood silently in the center of her room and stared down at the card in her hand for a long couple of minutes. The red-gold evening sun blazed in through the blinds covering the sliding glass door to the adequate sheltered Balcony. She took a moment to duck into the small bathroom and wash her face and swish some cool water to eliminate some of the taste of her blood. The unhappy young woman walked over to her desk and set the card down on top of her notes as a reminder to come back to it again later after she had her selfish pity party. A few shuffling steps later and Lara was pulling up the blinds with a jerk and pushing open the sliding door. In a final second of caring, she leaned over and flipped off her room's thermostat so she wouldn't be cold we she decided to go to bed. Better to be hot than cold in her opinion.

"Okay, let's see here…" She muttered, awkwardly opening the tin twist-cap with stiff and sore fingers.

Lara held the open container under her nose and took a small sniff, letting the strong smell of alcohol and coconuts invade her senses. She lifted the bottle and took a sip, holding the liquid on her tongue before swallowing. It was smooth, but still had that sharp bite that she needed. A full mouthful was guzzled from the bottle. Lara exited onto the balcony and plopped down in the closest wicker chair while taking a few more mouthfuls in quick succession. She looked out at the northern Los Angeles coastline about a mile away. The white sand glowed orange next to the bright blue Pacific Ocean, the faint cry of gulls and the dull roar of the traffic beneath her played the accompaniment to the scene. She took another hearty swallow, her taste buds tingling and dancing as the drink began to taste more smooth than harsh. Lara sat and listened again, the whisper of her hair being blown in the soft hot summer breeze adding to the music that wove around her.

Before she knew it, she was down to half a bottle and the beast was rolling languidly low in her belly. Her nose was numb and it felt like her neck muscles were silly putty trying to hold up her light head. She looked down at the bottle clutched in her hands and marveled how the now setting sun danced through the clear rum. The refracting blues from the metal label were almost green and reflected onto her tanned hands. Lara lazily took notice of the numerous healed scratches and abrasions on her hands and arms and tilted the bottle back and forth to see how the multicolored light played across them.

"How morbidly pretty…" She mumbled around slightly uncooperative lips and took another swallow from her new favorite drink. She was interrupted from her wandering thoughts when someone rapped sharply on her hotel door.

"_Lara? Lara, can you hear me?"_

_Ah. Sam. Fucking hell._

"_Sweetie, can you let us in? There's a police officer here that would like to speak with you."_

"_Fuck._ Hold on, let me… _Ah shit._ Just a second! _Fuck I'm screwed."_

"_Lara, are you okay?"_

"…sorta?" She called, getting to her feet with a wobble. She clumsily set the bottle down on the glass end table and tripped over the threshold back into her now high-seventy degree temperature room.

"_Lara?"_

"Hang on, 'm almost there…"

Lara shuffled unsteadily across the room and to the door, her boots feeling like concrete bricks on her feet. She leaned against the door and fumbled with the lock for a moment before realizing she needed to _pull_ the door open, not push it. A short struggle later and she heaved against the handle and braced her shoulder against the adjacent wall. She squinted her unruly eyes that didn't seem to want to focus on anything for too long and latched onto the startled face of Sam.

"Uh… Lara?" She asked, bewildered by the usually unshakable archaeologist's rumpled appearance. Lara scowled at her tone and looked up past her shoulder, zeroing in on a tall black African American man in a crisp navy blue officer's uniform. For a second, her breath caught at the sight of the tall imposing figure that she had seen so much of on Yamatai, but she was able to force her panic down thanks to her intoxication.

"Sir? Are you gon' 'rrest me? 'Cause if you are, would you mind please waitin' a day so's I'll be sober?" Lara slurred out, desperately trying to appear not as drunk as she felt.

"Miss Croft, I'm only here to ask you a few questions." He answered in a deep mellow voice, his chiseled face set in an 'all business' expression.

"Ah… 'Kay… C'mon in, I think… I have an extra chair…" She mumbled and frowned at the tilting floor before moving back into the room in her wobbly gate. Samantha caught the closing door and Lara could here her apologizing and making excuses to the police officer for her behavior.

"Don't 'pologize Sammy, no 'scuses now…" She called back over her shoulder and stumbled back out onto the balcony.

"Ahaaa!" Came her loud exclamation when she spotted the chair she had just occupied moments before.

Lara didn't know how she did it or how long it took, but she managed to haul the chair in off the balcony and over across from her desk chair. The officer was standing next to her desk in thoughtful silence, pouring over her map taped to the wall. Samantha had hopped up onto her too-cushy hotel bed and watched her with a worried expression. The man turned to her and studied her swaying form and stepped forward to help her sit in the chair she had just brought in.

"Oh, thank you, you didn' hafta do that…" She said softly and relaxed into the scooped seat.

"Ma'am, how much have you had to drink?"

"A lot." She answered truthfully. "Half a bottle?"

"Do you know what you were drinking?"

"Rrrrum." Lara answered with a grin but it immediately fell back into a scowl. "Too much rum. But it tastes good. Didjoo see it? The bottle?"

"Sweetie, I think you should answer this nice man's questions." Came Sam's reply from the bed. The officer frowned at the state of the drunken woman, debating whether or not he should sight this as public drunkenness… Even though they were in a hotel room she had paid for.

"Oh… Okay…" Lara conceded and tried to focus on the still standing officer, wiping clumsily at the dried blood she had missed on her chin.

"Miss Croft, my name is Officer Rodin of LAPD. I've been informed that you got into a fight just a little while ago."

"You could say that." Lara answered softly and swallowed hard, remembering Joslyn's bloodied face. Her mind cleared a bit and she focused harder on the officer standing over her, not noticing Sam had gotten up to fix her a glass of water.

"I've also been at the hospital and spoken to Miss Reyes. It seems that you've given her a mild concussion and some minor damage to her nose and left cheek."

"No… No please… Will she be okay? I'm so so _so_ sorry! I… I need to be locked up! I _hurt_ her!"

"Before you insist on that you should know that she has asked _not_ to press charges."

"Buh-whah-_WHY?!_"

"She stated that, she 'started the fight thinking she could beat some sense into you'... She wasn't expecting you to fight back."

"I…" Lara trailed off in shock, her eyes wide and mouth slack, barely registering Samantha pressing the glass into her hands. She took a few gulps, her brows furrowing in poorly veiled disappointment when she noticed it was water.

"She had also stated that if you don't pay her hospital bills and never approach her again, then there _will_ be charges. Would you be willing to comply to those requests or would you like me to let you call your lawyer?"

"She's not pressing charges…?" Lara asked again.

"No ma'am she's not, though I think she should. That leads me to my next question. Many witnesses including Reyes have stated that she started the scuffle. Would you like to press charges against _her_?"

"_NO!_ No… Joslyn has a daughter… She needs… She needs to be there for her… I can't do that to her… I can't let her little girl lose both her parents like I did… I can't… I can't let her turn into me…" Tears welled up unbidden but refused to fall.

"Okay. Okay, no charges then." He nodded, taking a few notes on a yellow pad of paper, his face coolly blank. "Have you given any thought to why you reacted the way you did? Hurting another person like that?"

"I know why… But I wish I could forget. And then maybe… just_ maybe_ something like this will never happen again. You don't… the island… I… I had to kill him… Almost raped me… Killed me… I needed to escape. But that _fucking island_… I killed so many men… They wanted to hurt me just like the first man… And Sam… _god damn it they were going to hurt her too… They were going to take her away from me._" She hissed out, raw anguish coloring her broken voice in a nasty hue.

"I see… Have you thought about seeking professional help to deal with this… situation?" He ventured and Lara slumped back into her seat, gesturing to the desk.

"A man at the bar… He gave me his wife's card. I think I should go talk to her a little bit… Maybe… Maybe even help me rem'ber how to be human again…"

Officer Rodin nodded and made a few more notes onto his yellow note pad and Lara took the chance to finish off her water and deposit her glass on the floor. He flipped back a couple pages and wrote in a few more scribbles before focusing back on the pitiful woman in front of him.

"I'm not being easy on you to be nice, I'm being easy on you _because_ I don't have a warrant for your arrest and I think you and Miss Reyes are both at fault. If something crops up you can expect me to be right back here. Do you understand that?"

"Yessir, I do…"

"So you understand that you need to stick around here for a little while."

"Yessir." The tall man studied her for a moment with poorly hidden disappointment and disgust. Lara's face fell and she fiddled with her hands in her lap.

"Please don't look a' me like that… I already feel bad 'nough…" She muttered.

"Well frankly I find it hard to believe that being ship wrecked for a week or two could mess you up this badly."

"It would if you had crazy cult bastards trying to kill you all the time." She shot back.

Samantha jumped up off the bed and hurried over to Lara, standing right in front of her and facing the officer. "I'm sorry Sir, but I think Lara needs to rest. You may never understand what happened to us, but _please_ don't make her think about it right now. Please? I think that's why she's so inebriated…" She startled when she left clumsy arms wrap around her hips and a face burrow into her lower back. Officer Rodin frowned deeply and tucked his pen and yellow note pad into his chest pocket.

"I'll be in touch." He quipped and strode from the room, the hotel door closing heavily behind him.

The two young women remained unmoving for a few minutes, just drawing comfort from each other. Lara was the first to move, unwinding her arms and gripping Sam's hips tightly. She pulled herself up and leaned bodily into her best friend to rest her chin on her shoulder. She didn't notice the shiver that passed through the smaller woman, one that wasn't from feeling cold. Quite the opposite in fact and Sam tried _so fucking hard_ not to blush when she felt _all_ of Lara press into her.

"I have coconut rum. Gon' have some more, you wan' some?" She mumbled, lolling her head to the side and nuzzling into Sam's neck just because she wanted to.

"Y-yeah… I think I do."

"M'kay."

Lara slowly pulled away and rocked back onto her heels, blowing air out of her lips like a horse. Sam turned and watched her with a strange expression while she stared down at the wicker chair. She blew air out again and began dragging the chair back to the balcony in a zigzagging line. Samantha followed slowly behind her in case she missed the doorway, and ended up helping Lara straighten it out anyways. The women plopped down into the wicker scooped seats and Lara handed the bottle over to Samantha.

"You've _really_ already had _half of this?!_"

"Mmmyeah… I… Yeah… Maybeeeee I shouldn't have anymore…" Lara muttered, squinting in the fading sunlight.

Samantha gave Lara a _"duh, ya think?"_ look and took a long pull from the bottle. She hummed in approval and took three more _large_ mouthfuls before lowering it back down. Lara giggled and slumped back in her chair with her long legs lazily stretched out in front of her.

"Thirsty?"

"Shut up…" Sam smirked and raised the bottle again. Lara snorted and rolled her head onto the back of her chair with a thump.

"We might regret this tomorrow…" She mused, picking out a random pattern in the off-white stucco ceiling.

"Oh yeah. Doesn't look like we give a fuck though… Let me go get us some more water anyways. You definitely need it." Samantha muttered and handed her friend the bottle.

As she disappeared into the hot hotel room Lara took another small sip and tried not to spill the rum down her front. The humidity of early summer was a sticky blanket in the mid-eighties and she could feel her body start to perspire for the second time that day. She grumbled and took another sip of the fiery sweet liquid while she listened to Sam rattle around in the bathroom. A gull circled not far from them and cried out raucously into the purpling sky. Lara watched the lone animal and didn't notice Sam had come back until the rum was pulled out of her hands.

"No more for you, babe. It's all mine now." She said, taking another swallow and kicking her flip-flops back into the hotel room a little unsteadily. Sam flipped on the dim balcony light and adjusted the chair to face Lara better. Dusky yellow suddenly bathed them into sharp relief and Lara grimaced in discomfort when her pupils attempted to sluggishly adjust. Sam handed a warm wet washcloth and Lara scrubbed at her face, neck, and hands, feeling much better when the remainder of the dried blood finally sloughed off.

"When I was in the hospital earlier, I stayed a second after Officer Jerk left… Reyes told me somethin'… She wants me to tell you… 'I'm sorry, we're messed up…' Um… 'Maybe we can work together again sometime when we're better.' Yeah, that's what she said. So maybe after every body gets better… We can all be friends again…"

"Oh… Okay. You'll tell her that I agree?"

"Yeeep." Sam nodded and took a sip with a sigh.

"So. Miss Lara Croft. Doncha think it miiight be time to move on to the next site?"

"Wha? Oooohhhh yeah. Yeah I think the… the… Mayans! Or no… Incas… Yeah. Them. Incas. I _think_ if I don't become fuckin' jailbait… I'd wanna go there…" She slurred out, peering over at her best friend and fumbled for her water glass.

"Ahh I gotcha… Wellll I don't have a job lined up. I could _totes_ be your videographer. Documentation is _key_ to success."

"I'm afraid a crazed group of Inca Priests or somethin' would think you… you uh… would be some kind of… Sacred Holy fucking Priestess or somethin'…"

Samantha laughed loudly and took another pull from the rapidly dwindling rum. "I think is _that_ were ta happen, I'd go batshit… I mean… Yeah. Yeah I would." She laughed again.

"Hey Sam… I Diiid see you shoot those two guys… In the castle? Did you… kill anymore…?"

"…Yeah… I don' rem'ber how many though, was runnin' away…" Samantha's face fell eerily blank and she took another swallow, her dark eyes trained on Lara's sprawled form.

"Lara… I saw your med-report on tha boat… _You_… You are fucking _Xena_ or something. A concussion… broken ribs… a _fucking pole through your side._ And you kept going! An'… an' I thought _my_ hurt foot and dislocated shoulder were bad…" She trailed off weakly.

Those weeks in the University of Tokyo Hospital were terrifying. Lara had been in horrible condition when they finally reached the emergency room, the wound in her side finally catching up to her. She had burned with fever for days as she fought off infection and bacterial disease, lying weakly in a hospital bed while Sam fought off the ravenous press with the help of her well-off parents. It had gone against her friend's nature, but the twenty-two year old videographer was driven more to protect her best friend than sell a scoop. Eventually she forced Lara to release a statement that all was well and that she just wasn't ready to talk about it yet. The injured woman _had_ encouraged other archaeologists to get into correspondence with her to talk about _possibly_ going back when the time arose. As far as Sam knew, Lara had gathered a small team and was looking for funding from a reputable source, Cambridge being one of them. Lara refused to be a trust-fund sellout. When she began healing, they all hopped on a plane to LA to begin planning a return trip. Somewhere along the way, Reyes had fallen out of the loop and had returned to darker thoughts, throwing a still recovering Lara into an uncertain spiral.

"Sam…"

"_No, Lara! No! Why didn't you tell me you were that hurt?!"_ Sam cried, her face distraught and eyes glistening from tears.

"I… I didn' think 'was important… at the time…"

The women sat in a brooding silence and Sam unwisely drained the dregs from the bottle with little flourish. The empty bottle clinked onto the table between them with a strange finality.

"Damn it Lara, you are just as important as any of us." Samantha said softly, unsteadily climbing out of her chair and pulling Lara's glass out of her hands.

"Are you sure 'bout that." Lara answered with a harsh bitter bark of laughter, staring out into navy black space.

"Well… You're important to me… Can that… be enough?"

"I… Sam? What are you doing?" Lara sat up as Samantha climbed into her lap and straddled her hips.

"I'm gonna show you how important you are to _me_." She husked lowly, her hands bracing themselves on the top of the chair behind Lara's head.

"Sam… Sam stop. We're _really_ drunk… And…"

"And you think this is a pity fuck."

"Well…"

"Well nothing. It's not. It never will be. I've waited over three fucking years for this an' I'm not gonna pass it up."

With a low growl Sam leaned down and crashed her lips into Lara's with a heated passion that could make even poor gruff Grim blush. Lara gasped and gripped the smaller woman's thighs in surprise, but quickly returned the hard kiss with one of her own. She moaned lowly in her chest when a hot wet tongue tasting of rum and coconut and _Sam_ caressed her bottom lip. She eagerly accepted Samantha into her mouth, breathing in the natural spicy smell of the smaller woman. Lara's hands crawled up the out side of Sam's lean thighs and tightly dug into flared hips. Sam squirmed and whimpered softly into her mouth, her delicate hand grasping the back of her partner's neck. The sound went straight to the warm knot in Lara's belly and she roughly pulled Sam flush to her front, her hands sliding around and palming the supple flesh she found. Sam broke away and tilted her head back, her eyes almost black and her lips swollen and thoroughly kissed. Lara could feel Sam's heart hammering through her chest from where it was pressed heavily into hers.

"Sam, I'm glad you've got the courage I was still trying to find…" Lara whispered onto soft pink lips and swept her left thumb back and forth on the warm skin just above Samantha's waistband.

"You mean… I'm _not_ makin' a fool of myself…?"

"Hell no… If you are, then I must be too." She grinned and bumped Sam's nose with her own.

"_Well then…_" Was the reply and Lara's senses were again full of the petite woman.

Burning supple lips molded to Lara's in a primal dance to reach a single goal of completion, one that they both desperately wanted and needed. She felt the beast stir in her chest, but it was different. It wanted what _she_ wanted and it made her absolutely _ravenous_. Pearly white teeth caught her abused lip and she hissed in a heady feeling of pain and pleasure and her fingers dug into the seat of Sam's black skinny jeans. Sam laved at the swollen lip apologetically and blazed a trail of hot sloppy kisses across her jaw and down her neck. Lara moaned again and her hips bucked up awkwardly in the scoop seat when Sam sucked _hard_ on her pulse point. Pleasure shot down to low in her abdomen and she hooked her hands under the smaller woman's hips and lurched to her feet. Samantha squealed and wrapped her lean legs around Lara's waist and kissed her on the mouth again. Slowly but surely, Lara shuffled the little distance to the door then kicked a booted foot out to find the low step.

The sharp clang of her toe on the metal went unnoticed by Sam but it saved them from a clumsy tumble. The hotel room was sweltering inside, the hot humid air stagnant in the semi-sealed room. Sam squeezed her legs tightly and pulled away from Lara's mouth with a seductive gasp. She shot the confused archaeologist a look that clearly said, _"Don't drop me, or you'll fucking regret it…"_ and whipped off her tee. Lara growled deeply at the newly exposed expanses of creamy white skin. A simple navy bra with a paisley pattern stood out starkly against Sam's glowing skin, and she could see the toned abdominal muscles of her trim stomach flex and stretch as she caught her balance. She _ached_ to taste and explore it.

"_Sam…"_ Lara husked lowly, taking the last few steps to her too-cushy bed. Lara leaned forward to dump her… best friend? Lover? What were they now?

"Sam, what is this…?" She mumbled into soft lips.

"Me an' you. We'll figure it out later…Kay?"

"…'Kay…" Lara whispered and fell back into Sam's warmth.

Lara made to lie Sam down on the bed covers, but the smaller woman fisted the open collar of her flannel shirt and they landed in an ungraceful tangle of limbs. Samantha's hands slipped under the soft fabric and pushed it down Lara's tan compact shoulders and drug her nails lightly back up the heated flesh. She was rewarded with a breathy moan and accompanying shiver that was followed by a short flail of arms to free them from the clothing. The white tank top was next to go, almost stretched out of shape in their lust-induced haste. Samantha leaned up and attacked Lara's neck again with teeth and tongue while curious hands explored the map of scars and expanses of smooth skin. Delicate hands traced the edge of her pants waistband from the back to the front only to fumble with the heavy belt.

"Wait, shoes." Lara gasped and heaved herself onto her back next to an equally breathless Samantha, trapping her leg under her hips.

Lara bent her right knee to her chest and tugged the laces loose. Sam tugged on her other pant leg, or what she _could_ get hold of (_Damn her pants are tight…)_, and managed to pull off both the boot and sock in one go. With her feet now bare, Lara flipped back over onto her hands and knees, her jade pendant swinging lazily from its leather thong. Samantha grabbed it in her hand and used it to pull Lara back down to her waiting lips that were curled up in the corners with a pleased smirk. The boiling kiss took Lara's breath away and made spots dance in front of her eyes in pretty patterns of reds and whites. Sam's roaming hands returned to her belt buckle and wrestled it open, sparing no extra moment to tease. They both hoped that there would be time for teasing later, but for right now they just needed to feel.

Lara hissed through bared white teeth and squeezed her eyes shut when slender fingers slid into her simple black underwear and boldly stroked her. Sam hummed in approval at the large amount of moisture she found and liberally coated her digits in it. Fingertips danced up to the nub at the top of Lara's sex and meandered in tight little circles around it. The young archaeologist moaned with a heavy exhale and rolled her hips down into Sam's working hand in an attempt to either find more friction or a few fingers inside. She propped her weight forward on her right elbow and kissed the smaller woman hard, fairly certain that she had just bruised the both of them. Her left hand cupped a supple breast and she caressed the pebbled nipple through the fabric, peering down through cracked eyes. Sam's were blown to near black and _demanded_ that Lara do something about the aching between her own thighs.

Lara was never one to disappoint. Her hand left Sam's chest and found the button to her skinny jeans, the zipper rasped loudly when Lara roughly jerked it down. Just for a second, Lara splayed her hand flat on Samantha's taught abdomen and thoroughly enjoyed the way the smaller woman's muscles twitched in anticipation. She shifted her left thigh up to brace her forearm and slid her fingers down to find nothing but skin and wetness. Sam gasped and keened lowly when two long fingers rubbed through her folds and pushed up into her firmly to fill her up.

"_Naughty, Naughty… No undies…"_ Lara teased and thrust her fingers up into Sam's molten heat, her lean thigh giving her just a little more force.

"_Lara… FUCK. With THESE pants? Hah… yeah. Right…"_

Kiss-swollen lips crashed together and hips rolled into hands violently, driving the other into a tighter and tighter spiral. Sam found the mental capacity to roughly fill Lara with three of her fingers and the woman cried at the sudden pleasure-filled intrusion. She rolled down and Sam's angled fingers hit _just the right spot_ that made her eyes cross. It happened again and Lara squeaked out a sound between a high-pitched moan and a whimper, the deliciously burning stretch of her muscle around Sam's digits consuming her mind in a white-hot heat.

"_Sam… Sa… There… again…"_ She whimpered softly into the smaller woman's ear.

Samantha complied while rolling her hips up into Lara's fingers that had frozen at the endorphin overload, her core sucking them in greedily with a lewd sound. Lara bit her tender lip at the feeling of sinking into Sam and picked the pace back up, falling into a fast rhythm of rolling hips. Movements quickly became sloppy as both women pushed to drive the other off the metaphorical cliff, moans and breathy sighs filling the room to the soft slick noises of their fucking. Lara's thumb swept out and stroked the engorged nub none too gently. Sam's hips snapped up violently and her hand that wasn't buried in Lara clawed at the back of her neck, pulling her in for an open-mouthed kiss. Their teeth clicked together uncomfortably but they continued their frenzied dance.

"_Lah… Laraaa… I'm gonna… uhhh…"_ Sam moaned hotly into Lara's mouth.

With a final swipe of her thumb Sam was sent tumbling over the edge. Her head thrown back in a silent scream, her breasts arching to the ceiling and the thick cords of tendons standing out in her neck. Lara was quick to follow, her hips slamming down on Sam's fingers and the white-hot knot releasing in a violent fury that made her vision go white on the edges when her eyes slammed shut. She cried out softly and trembled from the force of her orgasm, her body shivering in the heated room. They stayed connected as they came back down to their senses, breathing heavily into each other's necks. Sam was the first to withdraw, eliciting a keening moan from Lara when she pulled out her fingers. A moment later, Lara slipped her hand from Sam's now ruined jeans and gently laid down half on the smaller woman. Sam's thigh slipped between Lara's and became firmly sandwiched there while arms encircled waists and necks. They could still feel each other's pulsing heat on their thighs.

Lara somehow managed to lift her head and gently kissed her way up to Sam's parted lips, now reddened and swollen from their rough treatment. She kissed them softly and nuzzled into the still gasping woman's cheek. Delicate hands lazily tripped up and down her bare back only to slide down into her ruined underwear and grab handfuls of her rear. The smaller woman kissed her back and sighed in happy contentment.

"I think… we're still wearing too much." She mumbled against Lara's cheek.

An approving hum was her only verbal reply and then Lara was rolling onto her side. She slowly sat up and gripped the waistband of Sam's jeans. With a few pulls the pant were peeled off to expose the long lean legs underneath. A quiet snap and _flump_ of material were the clues that Sam had removed her bra as well. Soft moonlight and golden light from the city outside cast the smaller woman in an ethereal glow. Lara stood and braced the front of her knees on the bed and pushed her pants down her hips. It only took half a moment for her to be as bare as Sam and she crawled back onto the bed, her loose ponytail cascading her dark chocolate hair over her shoulders. She grinned playfully when Sam scooted further back up the bed and knelt, waiting for her with hooded eyes.

"Miss Croft, I think we have… some exploring to do."

"Oh God, that was terrible."

"Would you I have rather said that 'we have some treasures to raid'?"

"That's even worse! Just stop, come here." Lara snorted and laughed softly at Sam's punny pick-ups.

"I've been saving those for a while, you should be glad I even told them to you." She sniffed, mirth dancing in dark hooded eyes.

"Well, then I am _very_ honored to have heard them…" Lara trailed off and fell into Sam's warmth again with a happy sigh.

Hours later, the sunlight of very early morning washed into the room in pale pinks and yellows. On the messy bed, two bodies were tangled together on top of the thrown back covers. Lara was the first to stir. Her face was buried in a pillow and she lay flat on her stomach. Sam was curled into her left side, her head on Lara's shoulder and her arms wrapped snugly around her trim waist. Lara breathed in deeply and took account of how she felt.

_Must have had some water last night… Just really thirsty… That's good._

Lara sighed in contentment and stretched languidly, inhaling the spicy scent of Sam and the clean air flowing in through her still-open balcony door. The soft sounds of the ocean danced into the warm, dim room, and the faint sounds of sparse early morning traffic interrupted the monotony of distant breaking waves. Sam moaned when her pillow moved and she tightened her arms with some incomprehensible mumbling. Lara smiled softly and wriggled out of the petite woman's grasp and slipped her pillow into the space she left. Pale arms hugged the pillow tightly and Lara lay on her side just watching for a moment. Soft light painted the rounded contours of Sam's shoulder and hip, reflecting off of her metal earrings. She leaned forward and kissed Sam's cheek before climbing off the bed and headed into the bathroom. Lara took a few minutes to relieve herself and jumped into the shower to wash off. She was rinsing her hair out when the curtain was pulled back to reveal a sleepy Sam.

"Whyyyy are you up?"

"This is the time I normally get up. Go back to bed, sweetie." As Sam stood and stared at Lara, she could see a huge amount of relief flood her features. She began to worry when Sam's face twisted into an expression of repressed grief finally rearing its ugly head.

"Sam? What's wrong?" Lara asked in concern as she stepped out of the spray and cupped Sam's shoulders.

"I… It's nothing I just… I got _so_ scared when I woke up and you weren't there…"

"You know I couldn't do anything in the world to bring myself to leave you."

"I know! I know, it's just… I kept telling you that I wouldn't leave without you. And I didn't. I never did, and I never will. Ever… It's just so _stupid_ of me to think that you would…"

"Shhh, come here. Come here, it's okay."

Lara wrapped up a sobbing Sam tightly in her arms and buried her nose into her shoulder. She could feel the hot helpless tears rolling onto her neck and held her tighter, finally feeling Sam encircle her arms around her ribs and waist. Lara didn't know how long they stood there after Sam had finished crying, but she decided when she felt a shiver that it was long enough.

"A shower will make you feel better. C'mon sweetie…"

Lara led the now calm Sam under the warm water and helped her wash. She left her in there to soak for a few minutes and stepped out and dried off quickly. Her brush was pulled through her long hair and she contained it in a loose over the shoulder braid just as Sam cut the water off. She handed Sam a towel and leaned in, capturing soft pink lips with her own in a gentle kiss.

"Good morning. Coffee?"

"Yes, please."

Lara grinned and accepted another kiss before padding out of the bathroom, missing the hungry eyes staring at her bare back. She rummaged through her suitcase and found a clean old flannel shirt that she had stolen from Roth's wardrobe before she went off to Cambridge. Before they had left that cursed island, the group had stopped by the wreckage of the _H.M.S. Endurance_ to scrounge up anything they might need. Somehow, the majority of the clothing had been set to the side in the bow of the wrecked boat for some kind of future use. Their possessions for the most part had been left alone in the crates, though poor Jonah had to repurpose other crewmate's clothing since his had been taken. Lara held up the soft material to her nose for a moment and inhaled the smell of cheap detergent.

_Ugh… at least it's clean…_ She thought and then slipped it on, buttoning a few of the polished pearl buttons to cover up out of habit.

She was tending the coffee machine when Sam emerged from the bathroom and captured her mouth in a heated kiss, not so subtly pushing her back towards the bed. Nimble fingers made quick work of the few buttons Lara had bothered to fasten and the shirt slid from her shoulders with a soft rustle. The backs of her knees hit the foot of the bed and Sam roughly pushed her by her shoulders. Lara flumped down ungracefully with a quiet _oomph_ and her eyes grew black with desire as Sam stood over her. The Asian woman crawled over top of her predatorily; her damp mane of black silky hair framed her face and fell into her eyes in shaggy layers. She fell upon Lara in a frenzy of licks and nips, tugging at her lip as hands came up to boldly cup her breasts. Lara groaned and arched her chest up into Sam's hands, her own flying to grasp the lean thighs that were straddling her. She tried to sit up but she was pushed down again.

"No, you stay right there. No moving." Sam growled into her mouth and kissed her again.

The thought of being dominated was absolutely thrilling to Lara, who had; against her own desire, grown accustomed to the fact that she could never again be seen as weak. To be _taken_… It was frightening and freeing. Her fingers were pried from their holds and pressed to the bedding up above her head. Sam laced her fingers and squeezed them tightly, her back arching down to brush her chest to Lara's. Another kiss and a whispered _Stay…_ were her last instructions before she began painting swirling patterns with her tongue down Lara's neck. Pearly white teeth grazed along her clavicle and left a chill of gooseflesh in their wake, causing Lara to twist her hands violently into the bed sheets they lay on. Sam swept back and forth, pausing at each faint scar and lavishing it with attention. She spiraled further down and found the first dusky nipple that was peaked in arousal. She danced around it until Lara whimpered then went in for the kill, sucking it into her mouth to toy with it. Sam released it with a soft _pop_ and blew hot air on the wet flesh before traversing across Lara's breastbone to give the opposite the same attention, the tanned skin breaking out into a light sheen of salty sweat.

Finally, after torturing the writhing woman for more than a few minutes, Sam gave her a reprieve and continued her swirling patterns down across her ribs. She dipped her tongue into the flat belly button she found and had to grasp the hips that unconsciously bucked into her stomach, a bent knee knocking into her left elbow. She looked up at she licked it again and smirked when hooded hazel eyes became nearly black from how blown her pupils had become. Sam ventured out to her left and mapped the lean smooth expanse of Lara's stomach, the strong abdominal muscles jumping under the soft tan skin. She returned to her belly button and quickly decided it was her new favorite part of Lara when her muscular hips strained not to buck up again. Sam went in the opposite direction next, quickly finding the pink puckered scar tissue of where Lara had cauterized her gory puncture wound. She kissed it softly once before meandering back to give Lara's sensitive belly button one last lick before exploring the flat abdomen.

"_Oh Sam… Oh…GOD…"_ Lara panted as pink lips drew closer to where they were wanted most.

Sam hummed in approval when she got a good eyeful of Lara. "I forgot to tell you last night, bare looks good on you…" She breathed into the moist pink skin.

Lara's only response was a breathy moan and a harsh jerk of her hands in the sheets when Sam's breath washed over her. She could feel the moisture pooling in between her legs and she bit her poor abused lip in an attempt to keep from waking their neighbors up. Sam hiked Lara's right leg up over her left shoulder and gripped her hip, pinning her to the bed to the best of her ability. She nudged Lara's other leg out, lewdly exposing her to the warm room. With one final look up at a panting Lara, Sam swiped her tongue from Lara's entrance up to the small nub at the top of her sex. Lara gasped and arched her back up off the sheets and squirmed, trying to get closer to Sam. Hands pulled her back down and her mind went blank as a slippery tongue danced in and out and up and down in all of the right places. Flicks and sucks to the nub alternated with plunging and wriggling deep into her in a pattern only Sam knew. The hot coil in her belly tightened to an almost painful point until Sam plunged three fingers into her slick heat and pumped viciously. Her mouth latched onto the nub and sucked so _hard_ that Lara couldn't help but cry out in pleasure.

Tighter and tighter Sam wound her until Lara's hips were moving in a sharp roll to meet every thrust of the fingers inside her. She moaned with every exhale, the pitch becoming higher as she quickly approached the edge. One last hard suck sent her careening over into a boiling tidal wave of release, her head pressed back into the mattress and her face contorted in a silent scream of pleasure. Sam worked her until her body came back to its senses, and then quickly tumbled over the edge yet again. Lara lost count of how many times Samantha rapidly pushed her up and over the edge, but finally she let her fall over one last time and ceased her movements. Sam rested her chin on the inside of Lara's hip and kept her fingers resting inside her as she studied the woman before her. Lara's chest heaved while her arms finally fell limp into the twisted sheets, her fingers stiff and sore from remaining so tightly clinched for so long. Sam grinned evilly and curled her fingers inside Lara, earning a pitiful whimper and a tired roll of her hips. She kissed the skin under her nose and gently withdrew her digits to another moan. Sam wiped her fingers on the sheets and crawled up the tired woman's body, dropping gentle kisses as she moved. Finally she captured parted lips in a lazy kiss and dropped to the side to block the now rapidly rising sun from hitting Lara's drooping eyes.

"Let me regain my strength… and I'll return the favor…" Lara whispered with a smile, her shaggy bangs beginning to stick to her forehead.

"You don't have to but it would be greatly appreciated." Sam teased with a playful pout. "Ready for some breakfast?"

"Yes please, but let's call it up…"

"Sure thing, babe."

"Babe?"

"Aren't you my 'babe', babe?"

"…Yeah… babe." Lara grinned and pulled Sam into a kiss.

"Okay! Okay! Hold your horses, I'm hungry for food, too!" Sam mumbled with a smile and pulled away, bouncing across the bed to the hotel phone. She was back a moment later and kissed Lara again with a happy grin. Sam curled up against her side and propped her chin on her Lara's chest, her arms snaking around her. They basked in the warm sun for a few minutes, silently studying each other in a partially sated silence.

"Lara, how close are you to finding your team?"

"I'm very close, actually." She paused with a disbelieving smile. "I received a letter yesterday from one retired Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. in Princeton, New Jersey. It was accompanied by a formal letter from the University asking to help back my next expedition too… Anyways. He asked me to, "let a tired old man have one more round." I think I'm going to ask him to come along willing his health provide it. I'm honored he even asked me in the first place, really…"

"_The Indiana Jones?! _Lara, that's incredible!"

"It is! I'm very excited! But I think I'll confine him to the camp, most of his reputation is from him _destroying_ more than _saving_… _Don't_ tell him I said that! Anyways… The only thing that's _really_ holding it up is whether or not I need to hire a security detail. I know… There are men still left on Yamatai. I want to try and help them, but I want to be sure everyone can stay safe… And tools. I was nervous enough finding what little I did and touching it with my hands… I was informed by the Department of Archaeology at Cambridge that what I _had_ shipped only received minor damage and they were able to preserve and document the items. I've been contacted by all four of the Archaeological departments _and_ the Deans from the Architecture, Art History, Anthropology, and all of the other Cultural Programs asking me to keep them in the loop. At this point I might just go back and teach a class for God's sake…"

"You'll figure it out… And I want to go back with you. I need to see it again, so I can help myself get over it all… And to help you document everything of course. We need to get as much as we can so we can try to figure it all out."

"You really want to go back there?"

"Do you?"

Lara was silent for a moment; her hazel eyes clouded over with darkness and she slowly shook her head, pressing her full lips into a tight line. She pulled Sam close and hugged her warm body tightly to her own and held her there. Samantha kissed her neck and craned her head up to look at a frowning Lara.

"I think we should do some research today to figure out who to talk to. About _both_ us and how we're handling this… It's not healthy to not think about it without resolving anything…"

Lara nodded again, her face softening into light concern. "Okay. Start looking before lunch, try and make some calls after. Deal?"

"Deal." Sam kissed Lara gently.

Lara pressed into Sam and rolled her gently onto her back, humming in contentment when she felt lean thighs cradle her hips. She pulled back with a peck to Sam's nose and carefully studied her lightly blushing face, nervous butterflies dancing in her stomach.

"Sam, I didn't want to tell you this last night because I was drunk and maybe it would have been taken the wrong way… But… Maybe this isn't the best position to tell you in. _Ugh_. Anyways. I know we've best friends and all for years… It's just… For the-" A knock on the door startled Lara out of her confession and she groaned in frustration, one echoed by Samantha, and dropped her forehead on the pillow next to Sam's ear.

"_Little bird? I saw someone about to knock on your door with breakfast and thought I'd talk to you. Is that okay?"_ Jonah's tentative voice called softly for the door.

"Ahhhhh _fuck me…_" Lara muttered in mild exasperation, making Samantha mumble "_already did…_" and giggle at their situation. She leaned up and called back, "Just a second!"

"This could be potentially awkward…" Sam chuckled playfully, squeezing Lara's hips with her legs and kissing her.

"Mmmph, stop that. Hold that thought, 'kay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

Lara grinned in squinty-eyed happiness and stole another kiss, reluctantly pulling out of Samantha's full-body embrace. She hopped off the bed and landed clumsily on still wobbly legs from the paces Sam had put her through. Said woman catcalled and giggled when she bent down and retrieved the old shirt she had barely worn. Blushing furiously, Lara shrugged it on and managed to button most of the buttons while shooting Sam a playful glare, who was sending her the _sexiest_ look she had ever seen. She inhaled and attempted to steel herself for the impending awkwardness as she padded quietly to the door. A quick look out the peephole confirmed that Jonah was thankfully alone. Lara tugged the door open and propped it with her hip, biting back a nervous grimace when his eyes fell on her.

"Good morn-_oh_. Oh… Uh… Am I disturbing you?" He blushed furiously, faithfully training his eyes on her pink face, refusing to look at the tan long lean legs that went on for miles.

"No, not really…" She trailed off, and then grimaced painfully at the awkwardness when she heard a faint flump from the bed and a bubbly "Hi Jonah!" from Sam.

"_OH._ Little Bird, you _could_ have said _yes_." The poor man blushed and glued his eyes to the ceiling, his big hands tightening nervously on the metal tray he held.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting her to do that!" She called the last part over her shoulder, her face burning. "Here, you didn't have to do that." Lara said as she reached out and took the tray from their large friend.

"I wanted to. I was hoping to talk about yesterday, but that can obviously wait."

"Yeah, later would be good if that's alright…"

"Sure! Sure… I'll just uh… I'll just go now. Gimme a call later?"

"Yeah. Bye…" She trailed off as he high-tailed it down the hall to his own room. "Oh, Jonah!" She called and he spun in his tracks. "Lunch?"

"Sure thing, Little Bird. I'll see you then!" He called and disappeared quickly around the corner.

Lara rolled her head back and groaned in embarrassment, slipping back into the room and let the heavy door close behind her. She made her way over to her desk and set the tray down, mock glaring at a sheet-burrito'd Sam lying on her stomach. She was the very definition of the cat that had caught the canary.

"_You_. Are a bitch." She quipped, stripping off her shirt and stood in the sunlight with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah. But I'm a _SEXY bitch_." She smirked and started chanting while attempting to dance flat on her belly, _"Dayum, youse a sexy bitch! A sexy bitch…"_

Lara laughed and pounced on the smaller woman, wrestling her out of the sheet with tickling fingers. She went in for a kiss but Sam turned her head at the last moment. "Wait! What were you going to tell me?" She asked, bright hopefulness dancing in her eyes.

Lara smiled widely and said reverently, "I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I have for a long, long time."

Love and exuberance painted Sam's face in a healthy glow and she laughed brightly. Lean arms circled around Lara's neck and pulled her down into a passionate kiss. "_Finally_, Miss Croft. I love you too. But… no more rum for a while. Please."

"As my Queen commands…" Lara trailed off with a grin and fell into a giggling Sam's embrace.


End file.
